Five Years Lost
by Miraii
Summary: Sometimes I like to put my favorite characters through pain. Setting the caged animal free. Unexpected second chapter suddenly posted.
1. Part One

I don't own them, and part of me wishes they'd never been created to torment me so. This is set about seven years after the current time, and it's not cheerful. Probably a one-shot. I like reviews!  
  
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The room was about six feet square. It was never cleaned, and had begun to smell distinctly. In one corner was a toilet, and next to it, a water tap. The only light came from a very small window near the ceiling, which only let in any decent amount of light during the midmorning anyway. Not that it mattered; the inhabitant of the room had no need for light. There was no bed, no furniture of any kind, only the thick smell of solitude, and a heavy silence.  
  
As for the inhabitant, he was a young man, about twenty-three. His name was Kyou, and he had been inside the room for five years.  
  
At first, Kyou had fought against his imprisonment. He had been, at age eighteen, a fiery and passionate young man, quick to anger, and with harsh words he had withstood the torture visited upon him, but to no avail. It had worn into him, and at some point, he had given up. Since then he had become less and less of a man.  
  
It wasn't even the torture that had broken him, horrible as it was. Such things he could identify and hate, and so survive. It was the lonliness. Trapped in the emptiness of this room, never a kind word said to him, he had forgotten what it meant to be human.  
  
He was a sight to behold. His irregular feedings and lack of exercise had given him a gaunt, bony frame in place of the toned muscle he had before. His red hair had not been cut once in the last five years, and was tangled and filthy, hanging in rat's nests down his back. Eyes that had dulled from a warm red to almost brown stared out with no spark of life. The clothes he had worn when he'd been thrown into the cell had fallen into rags, and so he was naked, and he had not had a bath, so he was dirty.  
  
He hadn't spoken a word out loud in two years, not that there was anyone to care if he did or not. Only two people ever visited him: Akito, his captor, who taunted and tortured him, and Hatori, the doctor, who fixed him up afterwards. Hatori always brought him food when he came, and this was the only time the young man ever ate.  
  
No one had been to see him in almost a month, although he didn't know that. He had no idea of time; did not even know how long he'd been in there. He was aware that he was starving to death, but he didn't care. When the hunger became unbearable, he put his mouth to the water tap and drank. It helped little, but would sometimes keep the pains at bay.  
  
The rest of the time, he usually spent lying in the dust on the floor, either sleeping or, more often, simply staring. In sleep he had frequent nightmares, and so just lying awake was what he preferred.  
  
This is what he was doing when he heard the footsteps. In the old days, he would have tensed up and prepared to attack whoever was outside to make an escape, but now he stayed where he was. He didn't care. It was only Akito, come to torment him some more, and when he was gone, Hatori would set his broken bones and tend to his cuts and feed him, and then they would go away again and leave him alone.  
  
He heard and did not register the sound of a key in the lock. Hatori entered. Kyou might have been surprised, if he had cared. Maybe Akito had come and gone already, and he just didn't remember. What did he care?  
  
"Kyou."  
  
He stayed where he was.  
  
"Kyou?" Hatori knelt down next to the young man. "You must be wondering why it's been so long."  
  
He hadn't.  
  
"Akito has been very ill."  
  
Darn.  
  
"He's just died." The man's voice was touched with relief and a bit of awe.  
  
Kyou didn't react.  
  
"Do you understand what that means?" Hatori waited for a response, any response, something to let him know that Kyou could hear him, but he received none.  
  
"It means," said a soft, shaking voice from the doorway. "That we can go home."  
  
The new voice got a reaction. Kyou's eyes flickered to the doorway to his cousin Yuki, framed in the doorway and backlit by the light, which seemed so bright to his eyes that he had to squint.  
  
"Yes," said Hatori. "His power is broken. Our lives are our own now."  
  
And Kyou began to laugh. It was a harsh, strained sound, coming from vocal cords that had not been used in two years, and Hatori knew he would be hearing that laugh in nightmares for years to come. Yuki winced away.  
  
Hatori wrapped Kyou in a blanket and started to lift the frail body. The young man did not resist. He lay still and felt himself being carried outside the room that had been his entire world, and closed his eyes against the sunlight outside. He didn't want to see anything. Hatori set him in the backseat of his car, and asked, "Would you rather go to the Sohma House, or back to Shigure's, where you lived before?"  
  
Silence. Hatori and Yuki exchanged a glance. "Hey, baka neko," Yuki said gently. "Where do you want to go?"  
  
He turned his head to face away from them and stared blankly at the carseat.  
  
"Shigure's, then?" Yuki asked. No response. He looked to Hatori. "I think that's a better idea," he said lamely.  
  
"Mm. Let's go, then," Hatori said, looking back at his young cousin with concern.  
  
The little house in the woods was just as it had been five years before, except that Shigure lived there alone now. He'd left the boys' rooms as they'd left them, in the sad hope that Akito's life would end soon. He solemnly took Kyou from Hatori's arms and carried him up the stairs and into the old bedroom, setting him gently on his old futon.  
  
The three gathered in the downstairs living area to confer.  
  
"How could I let this happen?" moaned Hatori. "I should have done something."  
  
"I didn't expect... I didn't expect this," Yuki whispered hollowly.  
  
"Do you think he'll be all right, Ha-san?" asked Shigure.  
  
"I don't know. We'll have to try to reintegrate him into normal life, but..." he trailed off, got quiet.  
  
"But?" Yuki prompted.  
  
"It's never worked before," he admitted.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"According to the histories, all of the former cats have either chosen to return to the cell to wait for death, or committed suicide soon after being released," Hatori told them sadly.  
  
For a moment, silence reigned. Then, an eruption from Yuki. "So then you KNEW. You knew this would happen!"  
  
Hatori couldn't answer.  
  
"Well," sighed Shigure. "We'd better do something."  
  
"I will call Kazuma tonight," Hatori began, rising to his feet. "He knows a great deal about the curse of the cat, and Kyou respects him. Perhaps he can help us."  
  
"And Tohru-kun?" Shigure fixed his eyes on his tired cousin. "Should we track her down?"  
  
He heaved a sigh. "You might as well. But that's it." He looked sternly at the other two men. "No one else is to know where he is. Understand?"  
  
"Why the secrecy?" demanded Yuki.  
  
"Kyou hasn't seen any human being but me and Akito in five years until today. Do you think it's wise to let the entire family trample in here and see him?"  
  
Yuki sighed. "No, I guess you're right."  
  
"I'll be back tomorrow to check on him. Try to get him to eat something, will you Shigure?"  
  
"Hai."  
  
"Yuki. Are you coming back with me?"  
  
"Eh-yeh. I'd like, if it's alright with Shigure, to stay on here for a while. Like the old days."  
  
Shigure smiled the way Yuki remembered, and chirped "I would be so happy, Yuki-kun, if you would live with me again! And if Tohru-kun comes back too, it'll be like nothing ever changed!"  
  
Yuki gazed at the table. Everything had changed, and Shigure knew it. 


	2. Part Two

Hey! I randomly decided to write some more of this! Hurrah! Isn't that exciting? Isn't it? Well... whatever. Still don't own me no Fruits Basket. Enjoy.  
  
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He knew Tohru still worked in the building that Momiji's father owned, now as a secretary in one of the offices, and he walked that way that very evening, his heart pounding. It had been five years since he'd seen her, since graduation. What was she like now? His cousins were still allowed to see her, and had occasionally told him things, but he'd never wanted to pry too deeply, afraid that if he seemed too interested, Akito might forbid all of the Sohmas from consorting with her, knowing how that would break her heart. But now, with Akito gone...  
  
He shivered, sending a thank you out into the universe that Akito couldn't hurt him anymore. He remembered Hatori's words in the cell, "Our lives are our own now," and the horrible sound of Kyou's laughter. Yuki knew why his cousin had laughed. Their lives would never belong to them, not to either of them. Akito would be with them both for the rest of their lives, and how could Kyou, especially, ever recover from whatever had happened to him in that room? At least he, Yuki, had been able to live somewhat in the world, even if it was just the world of the Sohma House. At least he had seen people, talked to people, kept his humanity, despite the hell Akito had put him in. But Kyou... he remembered his haunted, empty eyes. Kyou had looked like an animal.  
  
Well, that's what I'm doing here, he reminded himself, looking up at the building. If anyone could help the baka neko - what had once been a hateful taunt had become, at some point, almost an affectionate nickname, at least in Yuki's mind - it would be Tohru. He waited, hidden behind a curtain of slate colored hair, until he saw her.  
  
Yes, it was her. A little taller, dressed neatly in a suit, instead of the school uniform he always pictured her in, with her brown hair pulled back tidily instead of falling around her shoulders, but it was Tohru. The instant he saw her, he didn't know what to do. "Honda-san," he thought that he shouted it, but it came out as a whisper. She was starting away, starting to leave. He had to get her attention. "Honda-san!" he said a little louder, but his voice cracked and it came out quietly again. "Honda-san!" at last a call, and she turned, instantly recognizing his voice.  
  
"Yuki...kun?" she said softly.  
  
"Honda-san."  
  
"Yuki-kun!" She ran the rest of the distance between them, and obviously wanted to throw her arms around him, but refrained. "Yuki-kun! I knew it! I knew I would see you again! I knew that Akito-sama would-" she stopped, seeing his face change. "What is it?"  
  
"Akito is... gone," Yuki didn't understand the sorrow in his own voice, but there it was.  
  
"Oh." She put a hand to her mouth, eyes big and sad. "Gomen, Yuki-kun."  
  
"No, no, it's not- You have to come. It's Kyou. You have to come."  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"He's... there's something wrong... Will you come?"  
  
It only took one look at Yuki's face for Tohru to make up her mind. "Of course. Of course I will come."  
  
"Now?" He felt so desperate to have things to some semblance of normal.  
  
"Yes. Let's go now."  
  
- - - - -  
  
"Konnichiwa, Tohru-kun," Shigure greeted them as they entered, trying unsuccessfully to hide the worry in his voice so as not to upset the young woman.  
  
"Shigure-san. It's been too long, hasn't it?" She reached out a hand and he clasped it.  
  
"I'm glad you've come," he said.  
  
"What's going on?"  
  
Shigure told her everything. "He's upstairs now, in his old room. We didn't know how to help him."  
  
She nodded thoughtfully, and put on her determined face. "Ok. Yuki-kun, come up there with me and let's see."  
  
Yuki opened the door slowly, and Tohru saw Kyou again for the first time since graduation. Wrinkling her nose against the smell of his filthy body, she sat on the futon and spoke to him with gentle words. "Kyou-kun. Konnichiwa, Kyou-kun. I'm so happy to see you again."  
  
He only faintly registered her and did not respond at all.  
  
"Ok," she said determinedly. "First we better get you cleaned up. Doesn't a bath sound nice, Kyou-kun? I'll go run one for you, ok? Yuki-kun, will you help Kyou-kun into the bath?"  
  
"Ah- hai," Yuki replied, surprised.  
  
"Good!" Tohru went down to the bathing room and started the hot water while Yuki bent over his cousin and lifted him into his arms. It felt strange, cradling Kyou against him like that, who'd always considered him an enemy, but the cat was so weak that Yuki felt a wave of protectiveness over him, and silently he promised Kyou that he would do everything in his power to help him recover. We won't let what happened to the others happen to you, he thought.  
  
"Honda-san?" He stood in the doorway of the bathroom.  
  
"Ah, good! Kyou-kun, the water is nice and warm! Just set him in the tub, Yuki-kun."  
  
"Ah, but, Honda-san..." Yuki started, embarassed, and nodded at Kyou's body, still draped in the blanket Hatori had wrapped him in, but otherwise totally naked.  
  
"Oh," she flushed a little. "Well, don't worry about it right now. I won't look at anything I shouldn't," she laughed. Yuki was surprised. Apparently Tohru had changed a little since he'd seen her last. He lowered Kyou into the water, the blanket still wrapped around him, and once he was settled, pulled the wet blanket out, and wringing it out, hung it on a towel rack.  
  
They cleaned his body, cut his hair, and made him look like a human being again, but he seemed even less responsive than before. Yuki tried to be calm, but he couldn't stop worrying. Seeing his old rival, his cousin, his - yes, his friend - like that was too much to handle. Together they waited while Tohru attempted to find something to feed Kyou in Shigure's horribly understocked kitchen. "Gomen, Tohru-kun," he'd shrugged. "I eat takeout, mostly."  
  
At last she'd sent Shigure into town to buy a few of Kyou's favorite things, and in the meantime, went about improvising with what she had. Kyou and Yuki sat at the table.  
  
Yuki stared at his cousin. He was slouched over the table, still silent, still seemingly unaware of where he was. Yuki felt the rage of frustration seeping into him. "Kyou. Kyou, look up. Look at me, please, Kyou. Just- please. Show me that you can see me."  
  
Kyou heard him. He felt a sigh go through him. Why wouldn't they just leave him alone? The girl was here. Why? What did they think they were going to accomplish? They'd bathed him, as though they thought he was human, as though they thought he cared whether he was dirty or not - as though anyone would care. As though it mattered. But he didn't matter. He was nothing.  
  
"Kyou..." Tears burned Yuki's eyes. Damn Akito! What had he done? He remembered the last time he'd seen Kyou, as Hatori had solemnly walked him in to see Akito. Yuki had been standing at the end of the hallway, watching. Kyou had kept his head high, resoloutely accepting his fate. He remembered the determined set of his cousin's face, and the clear terror behind his eyes. And how, standing before the door, he'd turned his head and met Yuki's eyes. "Oy, Nezumi," he'd called to him, in a voice that somehow managed to sound clearly despite how scared he must have been. "I'll live to break you yet." He'd smiled then, shakily, and Yuki had sadly smiled back.  
  
"I'll be waiting."  
  
And then Kyou had turned away and gone to whatever horrors Akito had in mind for him, and Yuki went to his own.  
  
"Baka neko. You promised me, remember? You promised you'd come back and beat me. You promised me a fight, dammit! Wake up! WAKE UP!"  
  
What was he talking about? Kyou wondered.  
  
"Ok!" Tohru's bright and cheery voice - how could she sound so happy? Yuki marvelled. Tohru really was sugoi, just as he'd thought that first night, so long ago. "Ok Kyou-kun, I have something for you!" She set a little tray with the steaming teapot and three cups down on the table, and smiled brightly at Kyou. "We'll have dinner when Shigure-san gets back with groceries, but for now we can have some nice green tea." She poured out three cups. "Now, Kyou-kun doesn't like sugar in his tea, if I remember right. You never liked sweet things, not even Valentine's chocolate," she laughed a little, and set one cup in front of Kyou. "And Yuki-kun? Sugar?"  
  
"Oh," Yuki was startled. He had been watching her with admiration and astonishment, having been so long away from her caring, motherly manner. "Yes, please. Domo... arigato," he blushed a little, and accepted his teacup.  
  
"Kyou-kun? Drink your tea. It will make you feel much better. Okaasan always said a cup of tea was the first step to healing even the worst pain. It makes you feel warm and safe again," her smile changed, and her eyes seemed to go to a faraway place, as they usually did when she spoke of her mother.  
  
Kyou looked up when he heard the word "Okaasan," as though it had reminded him of something. Tentatively, he reached out and took the cup of tea and raised it to his lips. He took a small, slow sip, and closed his eyes. The mild taste, with just a hint of bitterness, sent a wash of soothing warmth through his body - or maybe that was just the heat of the tea itself. At any rate, he took another drink, and then another, and then drained the entire thing. It felt... good.  
  
Yuki thought he saw just a little bit of the light come back into his cousin's face. 


End file.
